Copyright,  1917, 

By  W.  I.  Lightfoot,  General  Passenger  Agent,  N.  C.  &  St.  L.  Ry., 
Nashville,  Tenn. 


Nashville 


Issued  by 

The  Passenger  Departments 
of  the 

Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis  Railway, 

and  the 

Western  &  Atlantic  Railroad 


W.  I.  LIGHTFOOT,  G.  P.  A.,  NASHVILLE,  TENN. 

NASHVILLE.  CHATTANOOGA  <£.  ST.  LOUIS  RY 

C.  E.  HARMAN,  G.  P.  A.,  ATLANTA,  GA. 

WESTERN  &  ATLANTIC  RAILROAD 

H.  F.  SMITH,  NASHVILLE,  TENN. 

VICE-PRESIDENT  AND  TRAFFIC  MANAGER 


/ 


Tablet  erected  by  the  N.,  C.  &  St.L.  Ry.  in  front  of 
Engine  “General'’  in  Union  Depot,  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 


HE  “GENERAL”  NOW  IN  THE  UNION 
DEPOT,  CHATTANOOGA,  TENN. 

HE  engine  “GENERAL,”  made  famous  by  the 


“Andrews  Raiders,”  has  been  sent  to  Chatta- 
oga,  Tenn.,  by  the  Nashville,  Chattanooga  Sc  St. 
>uis  Railway,  and  given  a  prominent  place  in  the 
nion  Depot.  It  is  there  to  remain  permanently, 
i  a  monument  to  American  valor,  and  can  be 
sen  at  any  time  by  travelers  passing  through 
Chattanooga  over  this  railway. 


4 


TJ1E  SToRY  o^he,  “GENERAL” 


f  7  3.  7  37 


]AS.  J.  ANDREWS 

Leader  of  the  Andrews  Raiding  Party. 
Executed  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  June  7,  1862 


CAPT.  W.  A.  FULLER 
Conductor  on  W.  &  A.  Train. 
Died  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Dec.  28,  1905 


REV.  WILLIAM  PITTENGER 
Sergeant  Company  G,  2d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Died  in  Fallbrook,  Cal.,  April  24,  1904 


5 


TttE  SToRY  thK  “GENERAL” 


THE  CAPTURE  OF  A  LOCOMOTIVE 
A  BRILLIANT  EXPLOIT  OF  THE  WAR 

TWENTY  minutes  for  breakfast’” 

Nothing  particularly  interesting  about  the 
old  familiar  cry,  but  when,  on  a  bright 
April  day  in  1862,  the  train  man  sang  out: 
“Big  Shanty,  twenty  minutes  for  breakfast,” 
the  hearts  of  a  score  of  brave  men  beat  faster, 
as  they  knew  the  hour  had  come  for  the  beginning 
of  one  of  the  grandest  exploits  in  history. 

The  men,  from  their  dress,  were  citizens,  and 
had  boarded  the  northbound  train  at  Marietta, 
a  pretty  little  Georgia  town  twenty  miles  north 
of  Atlanta.  They  paid  their  fares  to  different 
points,  and  from  the  conversation  one  would 
suppose  that  they  were  refugees  from  the  Yankees, 
but  in  reality  they  were  disguised  soldiers  of  the 
United  States  Army  under  command  of  General 
Mitchell,  then  in  middle  Tennessee,  bound  south. 

They  were  volunteers  to  do  a  dangerous 
work,  and  were  to  get  through  the  country  as 
best  they  could  to  Marietta,  then  board  a  train 
bound  for  Chattanooga,  and,  at  Big  Shanty, 
seven  miles  away,  while  the  train  crew  and 
passengers  were  at  breakfast,  detach  the  engine, 
run  north,  obstruct  the  track,  cut  the  wires  and 
burn  bridges,  of  which  there  were  fifteen  between 
Big  Shanty  and  Chattanooga.  This  was  the 
brilliant  scheme;  how  well  it  was  carried  out  is 
related  in  the  following  story: 

On  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  April,  1862, 
Captain  W.  A.  Fuller  left  Atlanta  at  6.00  o’clock 


6 


WE  SToRY 


“GENERAL" 


in  charge  of  the  passenger  train,  having  three 
empty  freight  cars  next  to  the  engine,  which 
were  intended  to  bring  commissary  stores  from 
Chattanooga  to  Atlanta.  When  he  reached 
Marietta,  twenty  miles  distant  from  Atlanta,  a 
considerable  party  of  strangers,  dressed  in 
citizens’  clothes,  got  on  board  and  paid  their 
fares,  some  to  one  point  and  some  to  another. 
They  all  claimed  to  be  refugees  from  within  the 
Yankee  lines,  desirous  of  joining  the  Confederate 
army. 

Seven  miles  from  Marietta,  at  Big  Shanty, 
the  train  stopped  for  breakfast.  Most  of  the 
passengers  and  train’s  crew  went  to  the  breakfast 
house,  which  was  situated  some  forty  feet  from 
the  track.  At  this  time  Big  Shanty  was  the 
location  of  a  camp  of  instruction,  called 


camp  McDonald 


and  there  were  about  three  thousand  Confederate 
recruits  there  at  the  time,  being  drilled  ready  to 
send  to  the  front  for  active  service.  The  passen¬ 
gers  had  taken  seats  at  the  table.  Captain  Fuller 
was  sitting  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  table 
from  the  railroad,  and  facing  the  train.  He  saw 
through  the  window  some  of  the  strangers  who 
got  on  at  Marietta  get  on  the  engine  in  an 
excited  manner  and 


START  OFF  RAPIDLY 


with  the  three  freight  cars  detached  from  the 
passenger  train.  He  remarked  to  his  engineer, 
Mr.  Jeff  Cain,  and  to  Mr.  Anthony  Murphy,  who 
was  present,  and  at  that  time  foreman  of  the 


THE  SToRY  ™E  “GENERAL” 


Western  &  Atlantic  Railroad  shops:  “Some  one 
who  has  no  right  to  do  so  has  gone  off  with  onr 
train.”  All  three  arose  and  hurried  out  of  the 
house  just  as  the  engine  passed  out  of  sight. 

Some  deserters  had  been  reported  as  having 
left  Camp  McDonald,  and  the  Commanding 
Officer  had  requested  Captain  Fuller  to  look  out 
for  them  and  arrest  any  soldiers  who  attempted 
to  get  on  his  train  without  a  passport.  No  one 
had  any  idea  that  the  parties  in  possession  of  the 
engine  were  Federals,  but  supposed  that  it  had 
been  taken  by  parties  desiring  to  desert  Cam}) 
McDonald,  and  who  would  run  off  a  short  dis¬ 
tance  and  abandon  it. 

Captain  Fuller,  Murphy  and  Cain  left  Big 
Shanty  with  a  clear  and  well-defined  motive  and 
a  fixed  determination  to  recapture  the  engine,  no 
matter  who  the  parties  were.  They  started  out 
ON  FOOT  AND  ALONE, 

nothing  daunted  in  putting  muscle  in  compe¬ 
tition  with  steam.  Captain  Fuller  outran  his 
companions  and  soon  reached  Moon’s  Station, 
two  miles  from  Big  Shanty.  Here  he  learned 
from  the  track  men  that  the  men  with  the 
engine  stopped  and  took  their  tools  from  them 
by  force.  They  reported  that  on  the  engine  and 
in  the  freight  cars  there  were  twenty-four  or 
twenty -five  men,  and  that  while  some  of  the 
men  gathered  the  tools,  others  climbed  the 
telegraph  poles  and  cut  the  wires  in  two  places, 
carrying  away  about  one  hundred  yards  of  the 
wire.  This  statement  satisfied  Captain  Fuller 


s 


TttE  SToRY  °i  “GENERAL” 


WILLIAM  KNIGHT 
Private,  Company  E,  21st  Ohio 
Infantry.  Died  at  Stryker,  Ohio, 
in  October,  1916. 


DANIEL  A.  DORSEY 
Corporal,  Company  H,  33d  Ohio 
Infantry.  Now  living  in 
Washington,  D.  C. 


WILLIAM  BENSINGER 
Private,  Company  G,  21st  Ohio 
Infantry.  Now  living  in  McComb,  O. 


9 


TNE  STcfiY  or  the  “GENERAL” 

that  these  men  were  Federals  in  disguise.  This 
added  new  stimulus  to  his  resolve.  The  determin¬ 
ation  then  was  not  only  to  capture  his  engine, 
but  the  Federals. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  track  hands,  he 
placed  on  the  track  a  hand-car,  such  as  is  used 
to  haul  crossties  and  tools,  and  pushed  back  for 
his  engineer,  when  he  soon  met  Messrs.  Murphy 
and  Cain. 

Knowing  the  schedules,  grades,  stations  and 
distances  so  well,  he  was  confident  that  by  using 
great  effort  he  could  reach  Etowah  River  by  the 
time  the  fugitives  could  reach  Kingston.  At 
Kingston  he  knew  they  would  have  to  contend 
with  a  number  of  freight  trains,  which  would 
necessarily  detain  them  several  minutes. 

As  soon  as  he  got  Mr.  Murphy  and  Mr.  Cain 
on  board,  he  told  them  his  plan  was  to  push  on 
to  Etowah  as  quickly  as  possible,  for  there  he 
hoped  to  get  old  “Yonah,”  an  engine  used  at 
Cooper’s  Iron  Works,  and  this  plan  proved 
successful.  In  the  “rapid  transit”  by  hand  car, 
Captain  Fuller,  Mr.  Murphy  and  Mr.  Cain  took 
turns  in  pushing, 

TWO  RUNNING  ON  FOOT 

and  pushing,  while  the  other  rested;  one  mile 
from  Moon’s  Station  they  found  a  large  pile  of 
crossties  on  the  track — placed  there  by  the 
fugitives  to  obstruct  pursuit.  The  obstructions 
were  removed,  and  they  pushed  on  to  Acworth. 
Here  they  pressed  into  service  such  guns  as  they 
could  find,  and  were  joined  by  two  citizens, 


10 


THE  SToRY  w  ™E  “GENERAL” 

»  iz— Ci  ru 

Mr.  Smith,  of  Jonesboro,  and  Mr.  Steve  Stokely, 
of  Cobb  County,  who  rendered  valuable  service 
in  the  subsequent  pursuit.  Resuming  their 
journey  they  found  no  obstructions  until  they 
reached  a  short  curve  two  miles  from  Etowah. 
Here  two  rails  from  the  outside  of  the  curve  had 
been  taken  up.  The  result  was  the  hand-car 
was  ditched.  In  a  few  seconds  Captain  Fuller 
and  his  men  had  the  car  on  the  track 

BEYOND  THE  BREAK, 

and  with  renewed  energy  and  determination  they 
pushed  on  to  Etowah,  where,  to  their  great  joy, 
they  found  the  engine,  as  they  supposed  they 
would.  And  yet  it  appeared  a  slim  chance.  The 
engine  was  standing  on  the  side-track  with  the 
tender  on  the  turn-table.  The  tender  was 
turned  around  and  pushed  to  the  engine  and  a 
coal  car  attached.  Some  six  or  eight  Confederate 
soldiers  volunteered  in  the  chase  and  took 
passage  in  the  coal  car.  From  Etowah  to  Kings¬ 
ton  Captain  Fuller  ran  at  the  rate  of 

SIXTY  MILES  PER  HOUR 

and  found  that  the  fugitives  had  passed  by. 
A  large  number  of  freight  trains  had  pulled  by 
the  station  so  as  to  let  the  fugitives  out  at  the 
further  end  of  the  track.  The  agent  informed 
Captain  Fuller  that  the  leader  of  the  fugitives 
claimed  to  be  a  Confederate  officer  who  had 
impressed  the  train  at  Big  Shanty  and  the  three 
cars  were  loaded  with  fixed  ammunition  for 
General  Beauregard  at  Corinth.  Captain  Fuller, 


11 


THE  SToRY 

he  said,  was  behind  with  the  regular  passenger 
train.  He  insisted  that  the  agent  should  let 
him  have  a  switch  key  and  instruct  the  con¬ 
ductors  of  the  down  trains  to  pull  by  and  get 
out  of  his  way,  as  it  was  important  for  him  to 
go  on  to  Chattanooga  and  Corinth  as  rapidly  as 
possible.  So  authoritative  was  he  in  his  demands, 
and  so  plausible  in  his  speech,  that  the  agent,  a 
patriotic  man,  believing  his  story,  carried  out  his 
request,  and  so  the  fugitives,  by  the  finesse  of 
their  leader,  passed  by  one  great  obstruction. 
The  freight  trains  were  gathered  here,  and  so 
heavy  to  move,  that  had  Captain  Fuller  stopped 
to  get  them  out  of  his  way,  to  pass,  his  delay 
would  have  been  too  long.  Finding  that  he 
could  not  pass  with  old  “Yonah,”  he  abandoned 
it.  The  Rome  engine  was  on  the  “Y,”  headed 
for  Chattanooga,  with  one  car  attached.  He 
immediately  took  possession  of  it,  and  continued 
the  chase  with  all  who  would  volunteer  to  go 
with  him.  He  had  not  proceeded  far  before  he 
found  crossties  on  the  track  every  two  or  three 
hundred  yards.  After  passing  Kingston  the 
fugitives  punched  out  the  end  of  the  rear  car, 
which  enabled  them  to  drop  out  ties  without 
slacking  up.  Captain  Fuller  was  forced  to  lose 
time  in  stopping  to  remove  these  obstructions. 
Laboring  under  these  disadvantages,  the  pursuers 
redoubled  their  energy  and  proceeded  to  Adairs- 
ville.  When  he  reached  a  point  four  miles  from 
Adairsville  he  found  sixty  yards  of  track  torn 
up,  and 


12 


Tablet  erected  by  N.,  C.  &  St.  L.  Ry.,  marking  the  spot  at  which  the 
Engine  “General”  was  captured  by  the  “Andrews  Raiders.” 
Similar  tablet  has  been  erected  marking  the  spot 
at  which  the  “General”  was  abandoned. 


SET  OUT  ON  FOOT, 

calling  on  his  men  to  follow.  When  he  had 
gone  half  a  mile  he  looked  back  and  saw  none 
but  Anthony  Murphy  following  him.  He  made 
two  miles  as 

QUICK  AS  HE  COULD  RUN, 

and  met  the  express  freight.  Having  a  gun  and 
knowing  the  signal,  the  engineer  recognized 


13 


THE  SToDY  «r  the 

_ H—USMKBi 


Captain  Fuller  and  stopped  the  train  immedi¬ 
ately.  Knowing  that  Mr.  Murphy  was  only  a 
short  distance  behind,  the  train  was  detained 
until  he  came  up.  He  then  took  a  position  at 
the  rear  end  of  the  train,  twenty  car  lengths 
from  the  engine,  and 

STARTED  BACKWARD 

in  the  direction  of  Adairsville,  without  taking 
time  to  explain  to  the  engineer  or  conductor. 
When  he  got  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the 
switch  at  Adairsville,  Captain  Fuller  jumped  off 
the  train,  ran  ahead  and  changed  the  switch  so 
as  to  throw  the  cars  on  the  side  track.  He 
accomplished  this,  changed  the  switch  to  the 
main  track  and  jumped  on  the  engine,  which  had 
been  uncoupled  from  the  train.  This  feat  was 
accomplished  so  quickly  that  the  train  and  engine 
RAN  SIDE  BY  SIDE 

for  fully  three  hundred  yards.  He  now  had  only 
the  engine  with  the  following  crew:  A.  Murphy, 
Peter  Bracken,  the  engineer,  Fleming  Cox,  the 
fireman,  and  Alonzo  Martin,  wood-passer.  He 
resumed  the  chase,  making  Calhoun,  ten  miles 
distant,  in  twelve  minutes.  As  he  approached 
Calhoun,  Captain  Fuller  recognized  the  telegraph 
operator  from  Dalton,  a  lad  twelve  years  old. 
The  operator  also  recognized  Captain  Fuller, 
and,  as  the  engine  passed  by  at  the  rate  of 

FIFTEEN  MILES  PER  HOUR 

grasped  Captain  Fuller's  hand  held  out  to  him, 
and  was  safely  landed  on  the  engine.  The 
operator,  having  discovered  that  the  wire  had 


14 


TttESToRY  “GENERAL”  I 


been  cut,  made  his  way  down  to  Calhoun,  looking 
for  the  break.  As  they  sped  along  backwards 
as  fast  as  an  engine  with  five-feet  ten-inch  wheels 
could  possibly  run,  Captain  Fuller  wrote  the 
following  telegram  to  General  Ledbetter,  then  in 
command  at  Chattanooga:  “My  train  was 
captured  this  a.m.  at  Big  Shanty,  evidently  by 
Federal  soldiers  in  disguise.  They  are  making 
rapidly  for  Chattanooga,  possibly  with  an  idea 
of  burning  the  railroad  bridges  in  their  rear.  If 
I  do  not  capture  them  in  the  meantime,  see  that 
they  do  not  pass  Chattanooga.”  Captain  Fuller’s 
desire  now  was  to  reach  Dalton  and  send  the 
telegram  before  the  fugitives  could  cut  the  wire 
beyond  Dalton.  Two  miles  beyond  Calhoun 

THE  FUGITIVES  WERE  SIGHTED  FOR  THE 
FIRST  TIME, 

and  from  their  movements  they  were  evidently 
greatly  excited.  They  detached  one  of  their 
freight  cars  and  left  it  at  the  spot  where  they 
were  discovered.  They  had  partially  taken  up 
a  rail,  but  that  or  the  car  did  not  detain  Captain 
Fuller.  He  coupled  the  car  to  the  engine  with¬ 
out  stopping,  got  on  top  of  the  freight  car  and 
gave  signals  to  the  engineer  by  which  he  could 
run,  as  the  car  in  front  obscured  his  view.  Two 
and  a  half  miles  farther  Captain  Fuller  came 
across  another  freight  car  which  the  fugitives 
had  detached.  As  before,  he  coupled  this  on 
without  stopping,  and  pushed  on  to  Resaca, 
where  he  switched  the  two  cars  off  on  the  siding. 
Again  he  started  with  an  engine  only.  Two 


TrtE  SToRY  “GENERAL” 


17 


TAE  SToRY 


GENERAL’ 


miles  north  of  Resaca,  while  standing  on  the  rear 
of  the  tender,  he  discovered  in  a  short  curve  a 
T-rail  diagonally 

ACROSS  THE  TRACK, 

and,  being  too  close  to  stop,  the  engine  went 
over  it  at  the  rate  of  fifty-five  miles  an  hour. 
After  this,  until  they  reached  Dalton,  only  occa¬ 
sionally  were  obstructions  met  with.  At  Dalton 
he  dropped  the  telegraph  operator,  with  instruc¬ 
tions  to  put  through  the  telegram  at  all  hazards, 
and  continued  the  chase.  Two  miles  beyond  he 
overtook  the  fugitives 

TEARING  UP  THE  TRACK 

in  plain  view  of  Col.  Jesse  A.  Glenn’s  regiment, 
camped  near  by.  They  cut  the  telegraph  wire 
just  after  the  Dalton  operator  had  flashed 
Captain  Fuller’s  telegram  over  it,  preventing 
him  from  receiving  the  usual  acknowledgment 
from  Chattanooga.  The  fugitives  resumed  their 
flight,  and  never,  perhaps,  did  two  engines  with 
five-feet  ten-inch  wheels  make  faster  time  than 
the  pursued  and  the  pursuer.  The  fugitives  had 
the  advantage,  from  the  fact  that  the  “General,” 
a  “Rogers,”  was  headed  for  Chattanooga,  while 
the  “Texas,”  a  “Danforth  and  Cook”  engine, 
was  running  backward. 

The  fifteen  miles  to  Ringgold  and  three  miles 
beyond  was  made  in  less  time  than  Captain 
Fuller  ever  made  the  same  distance  in  twenty- 
two  years’  experience  as  a  conductor.  Half  way 
between  Ringgold  and  Graysville  he  got  within 


is 


THE  SToRY 


r 


OF  THE 


JACOB  PARROTT 
Private,  Company  K,  33d  Ohio 
Infantry.  Died  in  1913. 


JOHN  R.  PORTER 
Private,  Company  G,  21st  Ohio 
Infantry.  Now  living  in 
South  Bend,  Ind. 


WILSON  W.  BROWN 
Corporal,  Company  F,  21st  Ohio 
Infantry.  Died  in  Toledo,  Ohio, 
December  25,  1916. 


19 


one-quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  fugitives,  who, 
being  so  closely  pressed,  set  their  only  remaining 

FREIGHT  CAR  ON  FIRE 

with  a  view  of  cutting  it  loose  on  the  next  bridge. 
The  smoke  of  the  4 ‘General”  plainly  evidenced 
that  she  was  fagging.  The  fugitives  abandoned 
the  engine  and  took  to  the  woods  in  a  westerly 
direction.  Captain  Fuller  now  ran  up  and 
coupled  on  to  the  burning  car.  The  fire  was 
extinguished  and  the  car  sent  back  to  Ringgold 
in  charge  of  the  engineer.  As  Captain  Fuller 
passed  Ringgold  he  noticed  some  fifty  or  seventy- 
five  militia  mustering  and  sent  back  word  to  the 
commanding  officer  to  put  all  his 

MILITIA  ON  HORSEBACK 

and  send  them  into  the  woods  in  pursuit  of  the 
fugitives  as  quickly  as  possible.  This  was  about 
half  past  one  o’clock  p.m.  Although  jaded  and 
fatigued,  Captain  Fuller,  Anthony  Murphy, 
Fleming  Cox  and  Alonzo  Martin  took  to  the 
woods  in  pursuit.  When  the  fugitives  abandoned 
the  engine,  Andrews,  their  leader,  said: 

“everyone  take  care  of  himself,” 
and  they  left  in  squads  of  three  or  four.  Four 
of  them  were  run  down  in  the  fork  of  the 
Chickamauga  River,  at  Graysville,  and  one  was 
forcibly  persuaded  to  tell  who  they  were.  The 
militia,  mounted  on  fresh  horses,  scoured  the 
woods  that  afternoon,  and  in  a  few  days  the  last 
of  the  fugitives  were  captured. 

Later  there  was  a  trial  by  military  court,  and 
eight  of  the  number  were  executed  in  Atlanta 


20 


“GENERAL” 

as  spies.  Six  were  exchanged  and  eight  escaped 
from  prison  at  Atlanta.  Thus  ended  one  of  the 
most  daring  exploits  on  record. 

There  were  twenty-two  men  engaged  in  the 
enterprise.  Twenty  of  them  were  from  Ohio 
and  two  from  Kentucky. 

T^HE  following  official  letter  received  from  the 
1  War  Department  is  reproduced,  on  account 
of  the  valuable  information  it  contains: 

RECORD  AND  PENSION  OFFICE, 
War  Department. 

Washington  City,  February  18,  1903. 
Mr.  W.  L.  DANLEY ,  General  Passenger  Agent , 

Nashville ,  Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis  Railway , 
Nashville ,  Tenn. 

Dear  Sir:  In  response  to  your  letter  of  the 
11th  instant,  in  which  you  request  information 
relative  to  the  members  of  the  “Andrews  Raiders/’ 
this  information  being  desired  for  use  on  the 
tablets  that  are  to  be  placed  on  the  engine 
“General,”  that  was  used  by  Andrews  and  his 
followers  in  the  raid  made  by  them  on  the 
Confederate  line  of  communications  south  of 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  in  April  1862,  I  have  the 
honor  to  advise  you  as  follows: 

It  appears  from  the  official  records  of  the 
War  Department  that  the  following  named 
persons  participated  in  the  raid  on  the  Con¬ 
federate  line  of  communications  between  Chatta¬ 
nooga,  Tenn.,  and  Marietta,  Ga.,  April  7  to  12, 
1862: 


TAE  STohY  of  the 


21 


TAE  SToW  °. 


Jas.  J.  Andrews,  leader,  citizen  of  Flemingsburg,  Ky. 
William  H.  Campbell,  citizen  of  Kentucky. 

Marion  A.  Ross,  Sergeant-Major,  2d  Ohio  Infantry. 
William  Pittenger,  Sergeant,  Company  G,  2d  Ohio  Infantry. 
George  D.  Wilson,  private,  Company  B,  2d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Charles  P.  Shadrach,  private,  Company  K,  2d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Elihu  H.  Mason,  Sergeant,  Company  K,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
John  M.  Scott,  Sergeant,  Company  F,  2 1st  Ohio  Infantry. 
Wilson  W.  Brown,  Corporal,  Company  F,  21st Ohio  Infantry. 
Mark  Wood,  Private,  Company  C,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
John  A.  Wilson,  Private,  Company  C,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
William  Knight,  Private,  Company  E,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
John  R.  Porter,  Private,  Company  G,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
William  Bensinger,  private,  Company  G,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
Robert  Buffum,  Private,  Company  H,  21st  Ohio  Infantry. 
Martin  J.  Hawkins,  Corporal,  Company  A, 33d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Wm.  H.  Reddick,  Corporal,  Company  B,  33d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Daniel  A.  Dorsey,  Corporal,  Company  H,  33d  Ohio  Infantry. 
John  Wollam,  private,  Company  C,  33d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Samuel  Slavens,  private,  Company  E,  33d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Samuel  Robertson,  private,  Company  G,  33d  Ohio  Infantry. 
Jacob  Parrott,  private,  Company  K,  33d  Ohio  Infantry. 

It  further  appears  that  eight  of  these  men, 
whose  names  appear  below,  were  executed  by 
the  Confederate  authorities  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in 
June,  1862:  Andrews,  on  June  7th;  and  Campbell, 
Ross,  George  D.  Wilson,  Shadrach,  Scott,  Slavens, 
and  Robertson,  on  June  18th.  On  October  16, 
1862,  the  eight  following  named  made  their 
escape  from  prison  at  Atlanta,  Ga. :  Brown,  Wood, 
John  A.  Wilson,  Knight,  Porter,  Hawkins, 
Dorsey  and  Wollam.  The  remaining  six  members 
of  the  raiding  party  were  paroled  at  City  Point, 
Va.,  March  17,  1863.  Their  names  follow: 
Pittenger,  Mason,  Bensinger,  Buffum,  Reddick 
and  Parrott. 


22 


TrtE  SToDY  Vi™*  “GENERAL” 


WILLIAM  H.  REDDICK 
Corporal,  Company  B,  33d  Ohio 
Infantry.  Died  in  Township  76, 
Muscatine  County,  Iowa, 
November  8,  1903. 


SAMUEL  SLAVENS 
Private,  Company  E,  33d  Ohio 
Infantry.  Executed  in  Atlanta,  Ga., 
J  une  18,  1862. 


ANTHONY  MURPHY 
Foreman  of  the  W.  &  A.  R.  R.  Shops 
in  1862.  Died  in  1914. 


23 


THE  SToRY 


GENERAL’ 


On  March  25,  1863,  medals  of  honor  were 
presented  to  the  last  mentioned  (paroled)  soldiers 
in  person  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  were 
the  first  medals  of  honor  awarded  under  the 
authority  conferred  by  the  joint  resolution  of 
Congress  approved  July  12,  1862,  and  Section  6 
of  the  sundry  civil  appropriation  Acts  of  March  3, 
1863.  The  men  who  escaped  from  prison  in 
October,  1862,  were  also  subsequently  awarded 
medals.  Of  those  who  had  been  executed,  medals 
were  delivered  to  the  mother  of  Ross  and  to  the 
widows  of  Scott  and  Slavens.  In  the  case  of 
Robertson  a  medal  was  also  issued,  but  to  whom 
it  was  delivered  cannot  now  be  ascertained. 

Very  respectfully, 

(Signed)  F.  C.  Ainsworth, 

Chief  Record  and  Pension  Office. 

The  survivors  of  the  Andrews  Raiders  have 
erected  a  monument  to  their  fallen  comrades, 
and  it  stands  today  in  the  National  Cemetery 
at  Chattanooga.  See  cut  on  page  27.  The 
“General”  is  reproduced  in  miniature  on  top  of 
the  monument,  and  on  the  left-hand  side  is  a 
die  containing  the  names  of  the  “Raiders”  who 
were  executed  in  Atlanta;  on  the  right-hand  side 
a  die  containing  the  names  of  the  eight  who 
escaped  from  prison  at  Atlanta;  and  at  the  rear 
a  die  containing  the  names  of  those  exchanged. 

Two  monuments,  with  tablets,  have  also  been 
erected  by  the  Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St. Louis 
Railway,  one  marking  the  spot  at  which  the 
“General”  was  captured  and  the  other  where  it 


24 


was  abandoned.  A  third  tablet  has  been  erected 
in  front  of  the  engine  “General”  in  Chattanooga. 

Mr.  Pittenger,  in  his  book,  “Capturing  a 
Locomotive,”  says:  “We  obstructed  the  track  as 
well  as  we  could  by  laying  on  crossties  at  different 
places.  We  also  cut  the  wires  between  every 
station.  Finally,  when  we  were  nearly  to  the 
station  where  we  expected  to  meet  the  last  train, 
we  stopped  to  take  up  a  rail.  We  had  no  instru¬ 
ments  but  a  crowbar,  and  instead  of  pulling  out 
the  spikes,  as  we  could  have  done  with  the  pinch 
bars  used  for  that  purpose  by  railroad  men,  we 
had  to  batter  them  out.  Just  as  we  were  going 
to  relinquish  the  effort,  the  whistle  of  an  engine 
in  pursuit  sounded  in  our  ears.  With  one  con¬ 
vulsive  effort  we  broke  the  rail  in  two,  took  up 
our  precious  half  rail  and  left.  We  were  scarcely 
out  of  sight  of  the  place  where  we  had  taken  up 
the  half  rail  before  the  other  train  met  us.  This 
was  safely  passed.  When  our  pursuers  came  up 
to  the  place  where  the  broken  rail  was  taken  up, 
they  abandoned  their  engine  and  ran  on  foot  till 
they  met  the  freight  train  and  turned  it  back 
after  us.  We  adopted  every  expedient  we  could 
think  of  to  delay  pursuit,  but  as  we  were  cutting 
the  wire  near  Calhoun  they  came  in  sight  of  us. 
We  instantly  put  our  engine  to  full  speed,  and 
in  a  moment  the  wheels  were  striking  fire  from 
the  rails  in  their  rapid  revolutions.  The  car  in 
which  we  rode  rocked  furiously  and  threw  us 
from  one  side  to  the  other  like  peas  rattled  in  a 
gourd.  I  then  proposed  to  Andrews  to  let  our 


25 


WE  SToRY  or  the  “GENERAL” 

engineer  take  the  engine  out  of  sight  while  we 
hid  in  a  curve,  after  putting  a  crosstie  on  the 
track;  when  they  checked  to  remove  the  obstruc¬ 
tions,  we  could  rush  on  them,  shoot  every  person 
on  the  engine,  reverse  it,  and  let  it  drive  backward 
at  will.” 

The  Southern  Confederacy,  a  paper  pub¬ 
lished  at  Atlanta  at  the  time,  says:  “The  fugi¬ 
tives,  not  expecting  pursuit,  quietly  took  in 
wood  and  water  at  Cass  Station  and  borrowed  a 
schedule  from  the  tank  tender  upon  the  plausible 
pretext  that  they  were  running  a  pressed  train 
loaded  with  powder  for  Beauregard.” 

The  article  further  states:  “They  had  on  the 
engine  a  red  handkerchief,  indicating  that  the 
regular  passenger  train  would  be  along  presently. 
They  stopped  at  Adairs ville,  and  said  that  Fuller, 
with  the  regular  passenger  train,  was  behind,  and 
would  wait  at  Kingston  for  the  freight  train, 
and  told  the  conductor  to  push  ahead  and  meet 
him  at  that  point.  This  was  done  to  produce  a 
collision  with  Captain  Fuller’s  train.  When  the 
morning  freight  reached  Big  Shanty,  Lieutenant- 
Colonels  R.  F.  Maddox  and  C.  D.  Phillips  took 
the  engine  and,  with  fifty  picked  men,  followed 
on  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Captain  Fuller,  on 
his  return,  met  them  at  Tunnel  Hill  and  turned 
them  back.  Peter  Bracken,  the  engineer  on  the 
freight  train,  ran  his  engine  fifty  and  a  half 
miles — two  of  them  backing  the  whole  freight 
train  up  to  Adairsville — made  twelve  stops, 
coupled  the  two  ears  dropped  by  the  fugitives, 


26 


T/IE  SToDY  or  T„E  “GENERAL” 


Monument  in  National  Cemetery, 
Chattanooga,  erected  by  the 
“Andrews  Raiders”  to  their 
fallen  comrades. 


HENRY  P.  HANEY  PETER  J.  BRACKEN 

Member  of  Capt.  Fuller’s  Pursuing  Member  of  Capt.  Fuller’s  Pursuing 
Party.  Now  Ass’t  Chief  of  the  Party.  Now  living  in  Macon,  Ga. 

Atlanta,  Ga.,  Fire  Department. 


27 


i  WE  SToDY  o^«  “GENERAL” 


and  switched  them  off  on  sidings  in  one  hour 
and  five  minutes.  Captain  Fuller  fully  corrobo¬ 
rates  the  invaluable  service  rendered  by  the 
veteran  Bracken.” 

In  his  evidence  at  the  trial,  Pittenger  stated 
that  one  of  the  party  proposed  to  stop  the 
engine  in  a  short  curve,  ambuscade  and  kill 
Fuller  and  his  men  as  he  came  up,  but  Andrews 
would  not  agree  to  it.  He  also  stated  that  when 
the  “General”  gave  out,  they  were  burning  oil 
cans,  tool  boxes,  and  planks  ripped  off  the  freight 
car.  As  they  abandoned  her,  they  reversed  her, 
in  order  to  bring  on  a  collision  with  Captain 
Fuller’s  engine,  but  in  their  excitement  they  left 
the  brake  on  the  tender,  and  the  steam  had  not 
sufficient  force  to  back  the  engine. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  “GENERAL” 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Louis  L.  Park,  Chief 
Draughtsman  of  the  Rogers  Locomotive  Works, 
Patterson,  N.  J.,  for  the  following  information  in 
regard  to  the  “General,”  taken  from  the  plans 
and  specifications  of  that  Company: 

“Built  by  the  Rogers  Locomotive  Works  in 
December,  1855,  for  the  Western  &  Atlantic 
Railroad.  An  eight-wheel,  wood-burning  loco¬ 
motive  of  type  440-50,  weighing  50,300  pounds; 
gauge,  5  feet;  cylinders,  15  x  22  inches;  piston 
rod,  2j  inches  in  diameter;  has  four  driving 
wheels,  each  sixty  inches  in  diameter,  made  of 
cast  iron,  with  journals  six  inches  in  diameter; 
driving  wheel  base,  seven  inches;  total  wheel  base 


28 


THE  SToRY 


GENERAL” 


of  engine,  about  twenty  feet,  six  inches;  weight 
on  drivers,  32,000  pounds;  weight  on  truck, 
18,000  pounds;  heating  surface:  flues,  748.38 
square  feet;  fire-box,  71.08  square  feet;  total 
heating  surface,  819.44  square  feet.  Grate  area, 
12.46  square  feet.  Boiler  of  type  known  as 
Wagon  Top,  covered  with  felt  and  Russia  iron; 
diameter  inside  first  course,  forty  inches;  working 
pressure,  about  140  pounds;  thickness  of  barrel 
of  boiler,  five-sixteenths  of  an  inch;  thickness  of 
dome  course,  three-eighths  of  an  inch;  fire-box: 
thickness  of  shell,  three-eighths  and  five-sixteenths 
of  an  inch;  thickness  of  crown,  three-eighths  of 
an  inch;  thickness  of  flue-sheet,  one-half  inch; 
thickness  of  sides  and  back,  five-sixteenths  of  an 
inch;  length  of  grate,  forty-six  inches;  width, 
thirty-nine  inches.  Contains  130  flues,  each 
eleven  feet  long  by  two  inches  in  diameter. 
Steam  pipes  five  inches  in  diameter.  Engine 
truck,  four-wheel,  rigid  center;  tender  trucks, 
four-wheel,  inside  bearing.  Diameter  of  wheels, 
thirty  inches.  Has  two  escape  valves  and  two 
pumps.  The  smoke  stack  is  of  the  old  balloon 
type,  and  the  cow-catcher  is  much  longer  and 
larger  than  those  on  modern  engines.” 

The  following  article,  which  appeared  in  the 
Kenesaw  “Gazette”  of  March,  1886,  shows 
that  the  old  “General”  has  had  an  eventful  life: 

“This  famous  locomotive  is  still  on  the 
Western  &  Atlantic  Railroad,  pulling  a  train. 
She  is  one  of  The  old  issue/  but  is  retained  in 
service,  although  the  capacity  is  rather  limited, 


when  compared  with  the  big  ‘ten-wheelers’  and 
other  modern  locomotives  which  the  ever  wide¬ 
awake  Western  &  Atlantic  Railroad  Company 
now  possess. 

“It  is  a  matter  of  national  knowledge  that 
the  ‘General’  was  captured  by  twentv-two 
Federal  soldiers  in  disguise,  April  12 ,  1862,  at 
Big  Shanty,  and  the  attempt  was  made  by  them 
to  escape  with  her  and  burn  the  bridges  on  the 
Western  &  Atlantic  Railroad,  etc.  Their  chase 
from  Big  Shanty  to  a  point  near  Ringgold,  and 
the  capture  of  the  entire  party,  are  well-known 
facts. 

“It  is  not  known,  however,  that  the  “General” 
was  almost  under  fire  of  the  Federal  batteries 
at  the  great  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mountain, 
June  27,  1864.  When  the  battle  began,  during 
the  early  morning,  General  Johnston  sent  up  a 
train  load  of  ammunition,  etc.,  to  the  Confederate 
lines  at  the  eastern  base  of  Kenesaw  Mountain. 
The  ammunition,  etc.,  was  unloaded  and  carried 
to  the  front  as  quickly  as  possible,  but  the  engine 
and  train  were  detained  at  that  point,  by  order 
of  General  Johnston,  to  carry  back  the  wounded 
at  the  close  of  the  battle.  During  the  entire 
morning  the  ‘General’  and  her  train  stood  at  the 
point  where  now  is  the  station  Elizabeth,  and 
some  of  the  Federal  bomb-shells,  flying  over  the 
Confederate  entrenchments,  exploded  almost  in 
her  neighborhood.  In  the  afternoon  wounded 
soldiers  from  Featherstone’s  Division,  and  others 
in  that  portion  of  the  field,  were  placed  aboard 


30 


TfVE  SToRY 


E  “GENERAL’ 


the  train,  and  the  “General”  brought  them  down 
to  Marietta,  and  thence  on  to  Atlanta. 

“The  ‘General’  was  also  the  last  Western  & 
Atlantic  Railroad  engine  to  leave  Atlanta  when 
Hood’s  army  evacuated  it,  and  it  was  thought 
just  before  she  left  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  take  her  away,  but  they  managed  to  get  her 
safely  out,  and  she  went  southward  with  a  train 
load  of  refugees,  war  material,  etc.” 


Additional  copies  of  this  pamphlet  can  be 
secured  by  writing  to 


W.  I.  Lightfoot, 
General  Passenger  Agent, 


Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St.Louis  Railway, 
Nashville,  Tenn. 
or 

C.  E.  Harman, 

General  Passenger  Agent, 

Western  &  Atlantic  Railroad, 
Atlanta,  Ga. 


31 


COLORED  LITHOGRAPHS  OF  THE 
“GENERAL”  FOR  10  CENTS 

A  beautiful  colored  lithograph  of  the 
“General,”  size  18  x  25  inches,  will  be  mailed  to 
any  address  for  10  cents.  Address 

W.  I.  Lightfoot, 

General  Passenger  Agent, 

Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis  Railway, 
Nashville,  Tenn. 


32 


POOLE  BROS.  CHICAGO. 


